I feel like I've just run a scam.

[Brian Barfoot]

So a little backstory first: Ten years ago I moved back to upstate NY looking to buy a starter house for myself. The original plan was to get a duplex and house-hack but the realtor talked me into getting a single family for $37K and rent out the rooms. My girlfriend (now wife) moved in a few months later and we never rented any rooms but we did rehab the house in a major way (added a bathroom, new wiring, new insulation, roof, etc.) We moved out and started renting the whole place out to some grad students and since we had already done so much work it started cash flowing well right away.

Here we are two years into that house being a rental and it occurs to me that I can do a cash-out refinance. I now also have another rental with a partner and another on the way. We go through the paperwork and this afternoon the bank just handed us a check for $58,000 for BUYING MY OWN HOUSE FROM MYSELF! It still seems impossible that this is legal. How can this much money appear from nowhere? We are looking into at least two more purchases with the money from the cash-out. I may not have hit my powerball numbers but this feels almost as good.